It is snowing but I am not in despair

Yes, it's snowing, but something has shifted in the last couple of days and it suddenly feels like spring. Even though the snowpiles along the street are just as high and frozen as ever; even though it is snowing today and supposed to snow off and on for the next week; even though the sidewalks are icy and the world is monochromatic, it still feels like spring.

It's the sun, higher in the sky and actually warm on my back when I walk.  It's the temperature, no longer plummeting below zero, and rising quickly from the overnight lows instead of lingering around nine or six or two.  It's the light, earlier in the morning, noticeably later in the evening. If I leave work at the dot of 6, I can drive home without headlights.

And it's the noisy birds, flitting about, chatting arguing, sounding (as in the 15-second video above) as regular and rat-a-tat-tatty as car alarms. Lovely cardinals! Your spring song can wake me any time.

We are a long way from daffodils and tulips, but finally I am certain that we will get there.